LEOPARD CRY FOUL OVER ‘BUFFS’ GAME

MBABANE – Royal Leopard are crying foul over the game that they will play tomorrow against rivals. Young Buffaloes in the security forces derby.

The police ensemble that made history by being the second team in the country to reach the CAF Confederation Cup group stages after Mbabane Swallows, returned home yesterday afternoon through the Ngwenya Border gate. They face Young Buffaloes in the MTN Premier League pending fixture tomorrow at KaLanga Technical Centre, kick-off is at 2:30pm. This is one of their pending fixtures since they were engaged in the CAF competitions. They play Manzini Sea Birds on Sunday at King Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium. Coach Edwin Matsebula said it not good for them to play only after a day from returning on what he described as a long trip.

“It will be tough because we’ve got only tomorrow (today) Thursday we are playing. I think the football authorities did not look thoroughly to our situations. The journey was too long for one to come back and rest one day then play a match,” he said. They start their camping in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup group stages against Algeria’s Saoura away. This was after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) postponed their fixture against Al-Ittihad of Libya, giving them time to rest.

When asked about their chances of progressing to the knockout stages of the CAF Confederations Cup, he said they were not scared of any team including South Africa’s Orlando Pirates. He said the preliminary round that they won against Algeria’s JS Kabylie was more difficult. “Anything is possible. We have to work together and hard. It is possible to reach the knockout stage and then take it from there. We played well in Algeria even though it was a difficult game, especially after we conceded an early goal. We then changed our style of playing and used counter attacks and it worked for us,” he added. Leopard once shocked South Africa’s Bidvest Wits as they knocked them out of the CAF Confederation Cup in 2015.

Matsebula said they were not under pressure in competing with Mbabane Highlanders in the MTN Premier League as they have kept their eyes on the title other than the E200 000 first round incentive. “If you plan for the first round incentives while you are also looking at winning the league, your plans are disturbed,” he said. Matsebula said three of their players have some knocks that are yet to be assessed by their medical staff. They are defenders Machawe Dlamini, Mlamuli Msibi and striker Thabiso Mokenkoane.

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